Babies in the Workplace

For example, a mid-sized law firm in Massachusetts allowed Cindy Prifti, a legal secretary, to have her infant son in the office over her lunch hour every day for three months. Her son had started refusing to take a bottle at day care, so Cindy had her day care provider bring the baby to her over lunch so that she could nurse him.

Each day, the baby would arrive at noon, Cindy would feed him in a vacant office, and then she spent the rest of her lunch hour just wandering the halls of the firm with him while he slept or looked around. Much like the babies in the official baby-to-work programs, he was extremely content just watching the events of the workplace. To babies, an office environment is quite exciting--there are people walking around, people talking, people laughing, people typing on computers, lots of computers and copiers and other machines that make interesting

does not want to expose the baby to field conditions or undue risk, nor does it want to be responsible for any liability that might arise if the baby were accidentally injured.

Other companies aren't concerned about this risk, since parents do sign a liability waiver form. Schools Financial Credit Union had a facilities manager who took her baby with her when she traveled to branch locations to oversee construction, and they reportedly never had a problem.

Case by Case Basis

For those companies that aren't yet ready to implement a full-fledged baby policy, it's possible to try the baby idea informally on a case-by-case basis. Many companies across the country have allowed an employee to bring a baby or older child in on an occasional basis when day care unexpectedly fell through.